Note 1 — Chapter XXXIII · HIIAKA ALONE WITH LOHIAU

The excitement rises to fever heat. Pele is the coolest of the lot. At the first outcry—“they kiss”—Pele remarks with seeming indifference, “The nose was made for kissing.”1 (The Hawaiian kiss was a flattening of nose against nose). But when Hiiaka and Lohiau sink to the earth wrapped in each other’s arms, and the women of Pele’s court raise the cry, “For shame! they kiss; they embrace!” At this announcement, the face of Pele hardens and her voice rings out with the command: “Ply him with fire.”